


Cold Misunderstandings

by Red Charade (traciller)



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Humor, Len gets a lecture, M/M, i have no idea what to tag this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-23
Updated: 2015-11-23
Packaged: 2018-05-03 01:08:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5270852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/traciller/pseuds/Red%20Charade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to Cold Comfort (Food). Len is out of Iron Heights and has returned to Saints & Sinners, where Doris the waitress accosts him about the boyfriend he'd left sitting sadly alone the last time he'd been there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cold Misunderstandings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Crimson1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crimson1/gifts).



> Disclaimer: I do not own CW's The Flash or any of its characters. This fanwork is purely for entertainment purposes only and no profit is being made from it.

“...Run that by me again, Doris?” Leonard Snart was fairly certain that he may have stepped into the Twilight Zone somehow. Then again, in this town maybe that wasn't so far-fetched an idea.

He'd only just “gotten out” of prison and had come to Saints & Sinners as a way to unwind a little. His old stomping ground, so to speak. He could relax here.

At least, he thought he could. Until he actually got here and went to the bar to order a beer and Doris, a regular waitress who worked here most days, had immediately pounced on him with questions about his boyfriend.

It wouldn't be so strange, since she knew he was gay. He'd brought boyfriends here before. Hell, he'd picked up guys here before. Been picked up, himself, here before. And, as he'd said, Doris was here most days.

Except that Len was currently unattached and had been for a while.

“Oh don't you play coy with me, Leonard,” she said sternly. “That boy was such a sweetheart. A bit flustered but very sweet. Not like your usuals.”

Len had gotten to be friendly with Doris, who had been working here for almost as long as Len had been coming here. She treated him a lot like a good-natured aunt might, and she'd never been shy about telling him she disapproved of his usual taste in men. She said they didn't treat him right.

Which was true. But, he didn't treat them right, either, so he figured they were even.

“I don't have a boyfriend, Doris.” Len replied, figuring it would be best to set her straight. Even though he knew that once she had an idea in her head there was fat chance of that happening. Especially if she'd been holding onto this idea since he'd been in Iron Heights. It was probably well and truly ingrained by now.

“Oh no. Well, that's just a shame. He was such a nice boy. I think you should make up with him.” she said, tapping her notepad that she took down orders on at the tabletop in front of him. She didn't usually swat directly at him, because she knew he disliked being touched and she respected that, but she still found ways to swat in his general vicinity. It got the point across.

“Doris, I have no idea what you're talking about. What nice boy?” he asked with a chuckle. He didn't mind indulging the questioning, or the lecture, since this was Doris. Besides, he was kind of curious as to what in the world had her thinking he had a sweet, flustered boyfriend.

“Oh, Leonard...” she said, disapprovingly.

“What?? Doris, come on…!” he couldn't help smiling. Just a little.

“Take my advice and make up with him. He was really hurt when you left him sitting there in that booth. You should've seen the amount of comfort food I had to serve that boy.” she gave him another stern look, clearly disliking that he'd mistreated such a “sweet boy.”

But wait a minute…

“Doris...what did this boy look like?” he probably should have considered this when she used the word “boy” instead of “man.”

“A bit tall, thin but I wouldn't really call him skinny, necessarily. I'll bet he was a lanky teenager, though. Brunette, kind face and nice eyes.” Doris said, recalling the last night Len had been here before he'd been taken into custody.

Oh...oh hell no…

“Doris...that boy isn't my boyfriend. He's just a guy I know who came in to bother me.”

She gave him a look, clearly not buying it.

“Now, Leonard. I know for a fact that boy's been in here with you before. Over by the pool table? I remember that.” she said, as if Len had tried to get away with calling her stupid.

“I know, but he only comes in here to ask for favors.”

“Leonard!” she said, sounding scandalized. Which was interesting, since she worked in a place like this. She'd undoubtedly heard a lot worse, even if he had meant it as innuendo. Which he decidedly did NOT.

“I didn't...not favors like that!” Len corrected, eyes a little wide. Although, the kid did have a fine ass. It wasn't that Len was interested, but who the hell could keep from noticing an ass like Barry's? Especially in that Flash outfit. Len wasn't dead, after all!

Although, even dead...still hard not to notice.

Dammit, not the point!

“Really, Leonard. What a thing to say about a sweet boy like that. He was very upset that night when you stormed off with that nasty look on your face after having such a bad attitude with him.”

“What do you mean, he was upset?” Len knew he'd left Barry alone after arguing with him, hoping his attitude would get his point across where his words clearly weren't. Not that it had ended up working. But, he'd thought he'd only annoyed him, not upset him.

Not that he was worried about that. It was just...well, it turned out Barry had been right that night and he'd helped save Lisa. So, he maybe did have a little regret about how he'd treated Barry here that last time. But, it wasn't anything more than that!

“He just sat there staring at your empty seat for a few minutes until I came over with the check, and then he seemed so timid with me when he asked if he could add some things to it.”

“Timid??” Len was starting to second-guess things here. He didn't know the Flash to be timid. But, the scenario she was talking about made it impossible that it was anyone else.

“Yes, very! You really did a number on that poor boy's heart, Leonard. He ordered practically our whole menu twice over. In some cases three times over. And he even finished your plate, I might add. It really is a shame you two broke up. Especially since he'd said that night that he wasn't willing to give up on you.” Doris gave him a look that Len really thought was totally unfair.

But, had Barry really eaten that much food?? Why on earth…??

“Did he finish it all?” Len asked, morbid curiosity at work. That was all.

“I was surprised, but yes...he finished every last bit of it.” she insisted, as if that was some definitive statement that should get through to Len.

Except…

“Well...that is pretty surprising. But, he isn't my boyfriend.”

“Leonard...don't be so cruel.”

“Doris, he's not even here to hear it.” Len didn't know why she was being all mother hen about this. He was starting to get a bit annoyed and uncomfortable, but at the same time he couldn't be angry with her.

“It's still not right. You're such a nice boy, Len, on the inside. I wish you'd go apologize to him and make things right. Maybe, if you're lucky, nobody else has snapped him up yet and you can get back together. You really do deserve so much better than those men you're usually with. And I think that boy would be good for you.”

Now she was calling him a boy? He was forty-three years old!

Not to mention that he already had Barry breathing down his neck all sure of himself about Len having “good in him.” Now here Doris was saying he was nice on the inside. His reputation was going to suffer if they kept this up…

Then again, it wasn't like this was the first time Doris had expressed that opinion. But, still, it was the principle of the thing!

“Doris, I--” Len stopped because she was giving him that stare again. She had this stare that she could use. It made you feel guilty and ashamed of yourself, no matter how right you thought you were. It also made you second-guess yourself.

“Please, Leonard. Do right by yourself for once. And make that boy smile. He has a nice smile.”

Len sighed. He knew arguing any further wasn't going to be worth it. With anyone else, he wouldn't have bothered to argue. He would've glared at them, told them to mind their own business, and left them standing there. But, Doris was different. Everyone knew she was different. You didn't do that to Doris. Not even if you were Captain Cold. Mick wouldn't even do that to her, for God's sake!

“He does have a really nice smile.” Len agreed, nodding a bit and looking down at the bar's reflective surface. And it wasn't like that was a lie. Barry Allen did have a really nice smile. Watching him give a genuine smile was like watching sunshine take human form. It was ridiculous. In a really nice way.

Not that he was conceding anything for real! But, it clearly wasn't going to do any good to argue with Doris, as he'd already concluded. He should just agree and then next time he came here he'd just tell her that Barry was already with someone else. Or something.

Except, she usually knew when someone was lying…

Well, he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.

“There, now, you see? You do miss him.”

Len had not said that!

“Come on, Doris. Stop picking on me, okay?” he gave her another smile, this one open and wide. He was hoping it would convince her to leave him alone about Barry.

“Then promise me you'll make up with him.”

“Alright. I'll do my best. It's been a while, so I can't guarantee anything.”

“There's a good boy, Len.” she smiled, patting the tabletop in front of him as she might have otherwise pat his shoulder if he were someone else, and then gave him the beer he'd ordered and which she'd been holding hostage until now. That was a good sign that the lecture was over. So was the fact that she'd stopped calling him by his full first name.

“Thanks, Doris.” he said, opening it and tipping it lightly in her direction as a salute and then getting up to go over to the pool table, glad that was over with.

Some of the guys there glanced at him sympathetically. Most regulars knew what it was like to get a kindhearted lecture from Doris.

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was actually supposed to be a lot shorter and a lot funnier. Instead, it turned into Len getting a lecture and a guilt trip. :p I just decided I really liked the idea of someone being a mother hen over Leonard Snart.
> 
> The title is the alternate I had considered for Cold Comfort (Food). Since this is it's sequel, I thought why not go ahead and use it?


End file.
